Scalable and robust bilayer polymer foams for highly efficient and stable solar desalination

Li, Chenwei; Jiang, Degang; Huo, Bingbing; Ding, Meichun; Huang, Congcong; Jia, Dedong; Li, Haoxiang; Liu, Chenyang; Liu, Jingquan

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2019.03.087

Cited by 297 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…In the early development stage of solar interfacial evaporation, solar evaporators are directly floating on water surface without thermal insulation layer, and water is transported through interconnected and porous substrate (e.g., wood stem, melamine foam) to the top photothermally active surface, which is usually defined as 3D water pathway ( Figure a). [ 16,86–88 ] One major drawback of 3D water transport structures is they are mostly composed of open pores, and the thermal conductivity of the openly porous structures would increase considerably when soaked in water. Due to this reason, a capillary wicking substrate with low thermal conductivity under wet condition is highly desired to reduce conductive loss.…”

Section: Design Principles To Approach 100% Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Principles To Approach 100% Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[ 108 ] This versatile foam as substrate can also be integrated with other blackened materials like PPy as shown in Figure 6b to construct bilayer hierarchies for high light absorption. [ 88 ] Hierarchal structures also widely exist in nature, and these natural materials that are now in widespread use as efficient solar evaporation devices, have become an integral branch in photothermal carbon‐based materials. Among them, wood materials, which are of particular interest, have been extensively investigated.…”

Section: Design Principles To Approach 100% Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Principles To Approach 100% Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When salt crystals form and accumulate on solar absorbers' surface, the primary method to remove it is physical cleaning, which refers to simple rinsing and washing. [ 88,93,129–133 ] This method is particularly suited for flexible membrane‐type devices as demonstrated in Figure 11b, [ 111 ] which are easy to clean and do not involve heavy intervention work compared to bulk materials.…”

Section: Salt Rejection Strategies For Long‐term Solar Desalinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structure Architecting for Salt‐Rejecting Solar Interfacial Desalination to Achieve High‐Performance Evaporation With In Situ Energy Generation

et al. 2020

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requirement has given rise to research thrusts being focused on the development of solar-driven evaporation based desalination technologies. [4][5][6][7] The research on using solar energy in the desalination process has a long history. [3,8,9] In a traditional singleslope basin-like solar still (Figure 1a), saline water is heated and subsequently evaporated by directly exposing to solar radiation. Solar energy is absorbed and converted into thermal energy by a black light-absorbing liner that is situated at the bottom of the solar basin. [10] Due to this design, the solar absorber is immersed in bulk seawater and it hardly receives a fraction of the incoming solar radiation owing to poor light penetration through the thick water layer. Furthermore, the produced heat is easily dissipated into the bulk water, and further lost to the surroundings through water surface radiation, convection and conduction. Due to the above reasons, the resulting solar-tosteam conversion efficiency is inevitably low. Nanoparticle dispersed fluid was then demonstrated to harness solar energy and found to be a great boon to direct water vapor generation. [11,12] A solar conversion efficiency of up to ≈70% can be possibly achieved because heat loss to bulk water is mitigated ( Figure 1b). [13,14] However, research on this advancement didn't last because of the development of solar interfacial heating strategy, which is shown in Figure 1c. The concept of interfacial evaporation was first put forth in 2014 by two reports simultaneously, [15,16] and received a surge of attention and interest immediately in the following years. The most prominent feature of solar interfacial evaporation lies in the position of the solar absorber, which is at the interface between saline liquid and the above air. This special configuration not only minimizes heat loss from the solar absorber to bulk water, but also provides significantly more surface area for prompt vapor release. Also, solar radiation is photothermally localized at the surface of solar absorber, giving rise to high surface temperature, which enables fast heat transfer to water. With it, water transported from reservoir can be heated and evaporated immediately to achieve a higher rate of steam generation. In addition to the differences in heating strategies, it should be noted that all the solar stills follow the same evaporation-condensation route for desalination and clean water collection, and to this end, a similar device structure (e.g., solar still with sloping cover) is usually employed.The past few years have witnessed a rapid development of solar-driven interfacial evaporation, a promising technology for low-cost water desalination. As of today, solar-to-steam conversion efficiencies close to 100% or even beyond the limit are becoming increasingly achievable in virtue of unique photothermal materials and structures. Herein, the cutting-edge approaches are summarized, and their mechanisms for photothermal structure architecting are uncovered in order to achieve ultrahigh conversion e...

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Section: Design Principles To Approach 100% Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Principles To Approach 100% Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Principles To Approach 100% Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design Principles To Approach 100% Efficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Salt Rejection Strategies For Long‐term Solar Desalinationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Structure Architecting for Salt‐Rejecting Solar Interfacial Desalination to Achieve High‐Performance Evaporation With In Situ Energy Generation

et al. 2020

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Biomass‐Based Materials for Sustainably Sourced Solar‐Driven Interfacial Steam Generation

Liu,

Tian,

Caratenuto

et al. 2023

Adv Eng Mater

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Solar‐driven interfacial water evaporation powered by solar energy has gained significant interest as a sustainable and cost‐efficient desalination technology, owing to its zero reliance on fossil fuels. It aligns the relationship between freshwater demand and environmental‐friend water yields and provides us with a feasible and effective way to mitigate the global water crisis. Biomass‐derived photothermal evaporators stemming from sustainable and renewable resources and performing high freshwater output have piqued researchers’ interest in achieving water evaporation effectively, economically, and greenly. In this review work, we summarized biomass‐based photothermal evaporators coming from hydrogels, carbides, and fibers and analyzed their optical design, wettability, thermal management, and salt‐rejection ability, presenting an overview of the current status of biomass‐based materials in the solar‐driven water purification system.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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Tailoring Aerogels and Related 3D Macroporous Monoliths for Interfacial Solar Vapor Generation

Zhu

2019

Adv Funct Materials

135

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Interfacial solar vapor generation is emerging as a promising water treatment technology with high solar energy efficiency and minimized carbon footprint. Among various kinds of materials development, aerogels, with inherent high porosity, lightweight, enhanced absorption, and minimized thermal conductivity, are attracting significant attention for achieving high‐performance solar vapor generation. Herein, recent progress in tailoring aerogels (such as graphene [oxide], carbon nanotubes, and polymer aerogels) and related 3D macroporous architectures for interfacial solar vapor generation is presented. Furthermore, the challenges and opportunities associated with employing aerogels in solar vapor generation are also discussed.

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Scalable and robust bilayer polymer foams for highly efficient and stable solar desalination

Cited by 297 publications

References 66 publications

Structure Architecting for Salt‐Rejecting Solar Interfacial Desalination to Achieve High‐Performance Evaporation With In Situ Energy Generation

Structure Architecting for Salt‐Rejecting Solar Interfacial Desalination to Achieve High‐Performance Evaporation With In Situ Energy Generation

Biomass‐Based Materials for Sustainably Sourced Solar‐Driven Interfacial Steam Generation

Tailoring Aerogels and Related 3D Macroporous Monoliths for Interfacial Solar Vapor Generation

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